Now it happened that Osmo, the Bear, had just lost his wife and was out looking for some one to bewail her death. The first person he met was Pekka, the Wolf.
“Pekka,” he said, “my wife’s dead and I’m out looking for a good strong mourner. Can you mourn?”
“Me? Indeed I can! Just listen!”
Pekka, the Wolf, pointed his nose to the sky and let out a long shivery howl.
“There!” he said. “I don’t believe you’ll find any one that can do any better than that!”
But Osmo, the Bear, shook his head.
“No, Pekka, you won’t do. I don’t like your mourning at all!”
The Bear ambled on and presently he met the Hare.
“Good day, Jussi,” he said. “Are you any good at mourning? Show me what you can do.”
The Hare gave some frightened squeaks as his idea of mourning the dead.